Recently we had dinner at the home of some new friends here in Baltimore. For dinner, they served a veggie pie that was absolutely delicious. I asked our friends for the recipe afterward and she said that she starts with the same basic recipe but that you can pretty much do with it whatever you want… you can add your favorite veggies, cheeses and spices to mix things up. It’s also a great way to use up whatever greens or veggies you have in your house that you want to get rid of.

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

You could, of course, start with your own pie crust recipe. I decided to just use a pre-made pie crust. One package comes with an upper and a bottom crust but I decided to make 2 pies rather than doing a 2-crust pie. So first you start by taking your pie crustout of the fridge and letting it come to room temperature.

Then you want to gently place it into a glass or pyrex pie dish, and bake it according to package directions (mine had you bake it for 11-13 minutes at 450 degrees). (Mine got curled up a little bit and cracked… but it didn’t really make a difference!)

In the mean time, you can prepare your veggies. So far the two times I’ve made it, I’ve used 1 bag of baby spinach and 1 bag of baby kale. I’ve lightly sauteed the spinach and the kale in a tiny bit of olive oil in order to soften it a little and reduce it in volume. Cooking it down for just 30 seconds-a minute makes it take up less space than it does when it’s uncooked. You can also add whatever other veggies you want. This time I added some asparagus that we had leftover and I also chopped up 2 zucchinis and a head of broccoli. I lightly steamed them just to soften them up. The last time we made this, I used string beans and sugar snap peas. You can really add any veggies you want!

I also added a carrot–and I just grated it in order to get nice thin pieces. Once your veggies are all prepared, you want to mix them up and add salt and pepper to taste.

Then divide the veggies into two separate bowls in order to mix them separately. Into each bowl I added 5 eggs, along with 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese, and approximately 1/4 cup of chopped parsley. This time I also happened to have some crumbled goat cheese in the fridge, so I divided that evenly between the two pies.

Mix it all together and then fill your pie crust with the mixed up veggies and egg mixture. Top with some additional parmesan cheese.

Bake for approximately 35-45 minutes at 375 degrees. You can tell it’s done when the egg is set and no longer jiggles if you lightly shake the pie. Serve by itself for brunch or with a salad on the side for lunch or maybe with some simple pasta and marinara sauce for dinner! Enjoy!